Application through Route 8 was affecting last year’s OM certification increase
By Namwook Cho, L.Ac.
NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) recently announced that “NCCAOM awarded 1,757 certifications to new Diplomates in 2019, as compared to 944 in 2018.”
And NCCAOM continued, “New certifications awarded include newly certified Diplomates of Oriental Medicine, OM via CA Route. Approximately 9% more OM certifications are awarded each year as compared to certifications in Acupuncture.”
CA Route, also known as Route 8 is for certification in OM and created for all California licensed acupuncturists who meet the eligibility requirement set by NCCAOM and issue OM certificates without further testing. CA Route will be expired on December 31, 2020.
According to ‘new certifications awardee by year for each NCCAOM certification program 2015 – 2019 form NCCAOM’s 2019 annual report, number of Diplomates who are holding OM certificate has been changed from 527 in the year of 2015, 442 in 2016, 526 in 2017, 494 in 2018, and almost doubled to 1,126 in 2019.
